Job interview from Hell
by xKisu-Kisux
Summary: Spanning 12 weeks, this job interview is both desired and feared. But this isn't just any old job interview, it's a competition. 16 candidates - 1 winner. Who's it going to be?  Also includes elements of Versus XIII
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one**

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_"I don't mind living in a man's world as long as I can be a woman in it."_

_– Marilyn Monroe_

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"We are in tough economic times," he said menacingly, making sure that every soul in the room got a piece of that frightening glare. "And in this climate, _you_ need to stand out from the crowd."

From across the country, sixteen of Midgar's brightest business potentials have come to Shinra. Out of the candidates who have flocked in their thousands, only these sixteen have pulled through the nit picking that is President Shinra's method of employment. Such gruelling approaches are sometimes necessary, especially for this job, because there's only one of it in the country.

And this job is to be President Shinra's Chairman of the Board.

He paused for a moment, the tense atmosphere thickened like gravy as the big boss took a sip of water.

"I'm not interested in any _Steady Eddies _or _Cautious Carols_." The President almost spat with absolute callousness, "I'm looking for someone exceptional."

He motioned towards a shiny new filing cabinet behind him, it was black all over and it reeked of money. "I've read through all your CV's and frankly, on paper you look good. But so does fish and chips…

"Welcome, this is the job interview from hell. First prize, you get to work for _me_. Second prize, _don't exist_."

Enter Claire Farron.

'Lightning' is what they call her, a sort of praise if you may, for her 'tell-me what-to-do-and-I'll-do-it' attitude to work and thus getting the job done in the speed of lightning (a hyperbole of course). She prefers to be in control and likes things to run as she sees fit, no other standard is as good to her as her own. Having three years of business experience she is one of the underdogs of this game since the desired position requires top level management (which she undeniably has) and extensive experience in the field (which she hasn't). But these things are pardonable; Claire is young, optimistic and inexplicably serious in all things in life and in all honesty, her short-tempered tendencies far exceeds that of a menopausal 50 year-old.

"Seriously" Noctis sighed, running his fingers through his dark hair.

Noctis Lucis Caelum: friend to Claire and a rival to Claire. Noctis is older by a few years but his self-esteem does not agree. Unlike Claire, whose approach to her colleagues is akin to a boss-employee relationship, Noctis is much more cooperative and lacks imagination. He often needs someone else's idea for a stimulus in order to work forwards, like fuel to a car.

"Calm down, Noct." Claire chuckled as she laid her tray of lunch onto the table, she handed him a can of soda. "It hasn't even started."

"Yeah, but you have to admit," He replied, "Granted that the process of _filling in _ a few sheets of paper is hard enough as it was, that meeting was absolutely…"

Claire watched her friend as he silently fumbled for the appropriate word, she swallowed her bite of Panini and suggested, "_Shit-stopping_?"

He snapped his fingers and grinned toothily, "Yeah, that's the word!"

She snorted, "I have to admit, it was intense in that board-room, but let's celebrate for now."

The chinked cans and rejoiced their progression. Sometimes the perks that come with the job is outweighed by the belligerence of the boss, however, the many thousands who have sacrificed a lot – and this is to even just apply – is enough indication that the boss's intimidating behaviour does little to dampen the spirits of hopeful applicants.

"I am assigning you all to do a bit of interaction to our candidates."

Before him stood sixteen men and women, clad in black suits and ties, they are the Turks. Despite their professional likeness, they are able to carry out the roughest of jobs. But for today they will have to settle for professional. President Shinra tossed the cabinet key towards the squad leader, Veld, who caught the object in mid-air with a swift swipe.

"For a fair test, I'd like you to pick any file at random, and I'd like you to write your name on the front."

"Like lottery, yo."

"Shut up, Reno."

After a quiet and _arduous_ process of following the instructions set, they were finally self-assigned to their own person.

"Your task is to do research, your restriction is divulging your real objectives, be whatever—change your name if necessary, be crafty with this task, it's flexible."

Reno groaned, "I don't like what I see, yo."

He flipped a few pages and completely gave up, shutting the file and dropping it onto the coffee table; spatters of milk stained the document. Reno slouched beside his partner, Rude, and ogled his file.

"Noctis—eh? That's a weird name." He grunted.

Rude adjusted his glasses and turned the page, "He's good, but I doubt he'll last."

"Hah! You haven't seen mine, I mean she's young and pretty, but she's all serious, not my type at all."

"Who said you're meant to date her?"

"Well, how else would I get myself _involved_ with a girl, yo?" He winked.

"By being a friend is good enough."

"That ain't crafty at all!" He quoted the President, throwing his arms out in light exasperation. "A way to a woman's bed is a way to a woman's head!"

"Stop that, it's annoying."

"_That_ is a quote from a professional ladies'-man." He smirked.

"Don't start."

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**Disclaimer:**

**I own the plot and some made up characters, but that's about it. And I am definitely not making money out of this!**

**Author's note:**

**Okay, I've decided to place the disclaimer right at the bottom because it'll mess up the layout of my story if  
it was at the top.**

** Anyways, I absolutely have no confidence on this story, but I'll never know if I never try! So please _review_, and  
if I get enough (and reviews that at least suggests that you like my plot) I will continue! I'm also open for suggestions  
because my mind often runs dry of imagination, so There you go people, I'm giving you the steering wheel for my story!**

**(Pairings might gradually appear plus a genre change - but it all depends if you have enough energy to click that button!)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

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_"And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race, because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department."_

_– Andrew Carnegie_

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Listen. The light thumping of expensive shoes on plush carpets, rustling of important documents, some mild professional chatter by the water dispenser or the weekly gossip about that attractive SOLDIER.

For Claire and Noctis, this is a comfort zone. A working environment in which they are most effective in. Unlike that terrible 'shit-stopping' setting in the President's board-room which is still deeply ingrained into their memories.

Two crisply (or one of them at least) dressed men approached the pair; Claire could easily tell that they did not belong there - another department she assumed. Claire assessed them quickly: one was tall and lanky with unkempt red hair restrained in a ponytail (a side note of two red marks symmetrically positioned on his cheek bones and a pair of goggles). The other was taller, bald and burly, wore a pair of glasses, a pair of gloves and… that's about it.

"How _uninteresting_" She heard a voice groan inside her head.

"Are you Claire Farron, yo?"

"Yes, how do you know—?"

"Follow me."

Noctis – assuming that the red-haired man had no business with him – turned towards the taller man, idly wondering why he would feel the necessity of tinted glasses whilst indoors.

"Well?" He asked the man.

"Rude, I'm your guide for the first month of this challenge. I'll be showing you around."

_Did he just call me rude?_ "Err, I'm sorry, but how was I _rude_?"

"It's my name." Said Rude as his voice took a threatening dip. Noctis – who is worth nothing to be a good head and an inch shorter – suddenly appreciated the _dramatic _height difference.

"I'm sorry, Rude, I—" Noctis stopped short of his sentence, realizing that he was about to say he was being _rude_, which sounded funny. He mentally side-stepped and avoided the word. "…want to know where I'll be working; I'm Noctis by the way."

"I know" he replied, his voice resurfacing to normal again. "Follow me."

_Awkward_!

"So, this is your allocated workspace, _Madame_." He smirked, giving the final word a little ring. He pulled out the black, leather office chair and patted the cushion comically.

Claire tried her very hardest to maintain her professional façade; the office was pristine, new and unused. The glass desk sported a shiny silver laptop and everything that is… _professional_. The rest of the room was hardly furnished, obviously a blank canvas for her. Claire snorted, she felt childish, she has seen many offices that have amazed her, but this had by far surpassed them all.

"Wow."

"I know! Offices don't get better than this, yo." He chuckled, walking around the large desk and sprawling on the brown leather couch that she overlooked. There were two, facing each other right in front of her desk. She pictured clients sitting opposite her as she typed away merrily behind the glass bureau.

The office was painted white all over, white walls, white ceiling and plush white carpeting. There was no wall behind where she will be sitting; only this wide double-glazed window that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. It illuminated the room.

And all of a sudden, the job is of paramount importance, her ultimate point in life. If she cannot work in Shinra, she will not work anywhere else.

"Do you know when I start?" She asked, holding back an impending urge to squeal the words out.

"You're starting now, aren't you?" He asked sarcastically.

"That's a good point." She sauntered towards the desk, finally taking her rightful seat. She propped her shoulder bag onto her lap and emptied its contents, a notepad, pencil case, etcetera. Once everything was laid neatly on the glass, she hid the bag by her foot.

_Man this girl had OCD too! _"Ready?"

"Yes, hopefully, how do I know what to do?"

"Easy!"

"You regularly get your tasks in your inbox, here, take this."

Rude dug into his left jacket pocket and pulled out a PDA, which he handed straight to Noctis.

Noctis examined the device. "Nice."

"I'll make this clear now: you're not allowed to use your _own_ phone in here. We're all using the same thing as you."

"Why?"

"Just rules," He shrugged, "Anyways, if you are asked to _assemble_, that means you have to head straight to the board-room no-matter what, you have to abandon whatever you're doing and just get there. President Shinra isn't a patient man."

_I could tell_. He nodded. "Right"

"Your tasks usually have a set time, so you can't afford to slack."

"Do you have any idea what kind of tasks I'll be set?"

"Anything, all the tasks that you're set within this competition won't affect the company. It's just for assessment purposes. So I assume they'd be pretty random, but in some aspects relevant."

Noctis slid the device to life and found that the forewarned email has already arrived.

_Assemble_

"Great, I'll see you later, Rude."

Noctis felt chills creep down his back again; moisture began to build up on his hairline. The boardroom was truly unlike any place in the office floor. As he followed a couple of contenders filing into the dreaded place, he immediately saw Claire sitting right across President Shinra. She held both elbows on the illuminated table and eyed the man solemnly.

"Now, I'm sure you've already met your buddies, they're here to stop you from running around like headless chickens on your first month." He cleared his throat. "For the first assignment, I have decided to personally brief it to you, but for the remainder of this competition, you'll just have to keep an eye on your PDA."

A woman in specs raised a hand rather arrogantly. "Sir—"

"You're not being spoken to; you shouldn't interrupt a task briefing otherwise you wouldn't know what the hell you're gonna do later!" He snapped. "You're fired."

"But—"

"Would you like to be escorted out as well?"

"Sir—!"

"Get out!"

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**Disclaimer:**

**(See the bottom of Chapter 1)**


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